I have one confused question when it comes to sharping a chain. I have bought a new chain, I was reading the instruction that came with chain it says this chain has been sharpend to 35 degree. I have read in the forum that 10 degree sharpening is perfect for chainsaw milling. The question do we have to sharpen our chain according to the manufacture original sharping or just do it our way is 10 degree sharping for milling which method will be correct.

i have never herd of anyone fileing at 10 deg. ? for soft woods like pine and aspen 35 will do great! 30 degs.will do better for harder woods like oak,ash, elm and so on .. at 10 degs the bite would take more horse power then most saws have ,unless your cutting 2"x2"..... the only other mention of a 10 deg angle is in a up swing with the file to keep the teeth cutting cleaner and not pulling the product from the log by rolling the chips away from the cut . hope this answers your question ....

Most standard chain is sharpened at 25-35 degrees for crosscutting wood and for ripping with the grain it's best to use 10 degrees. So if you are cutting with the grain, you should be using 10 degree sharpened chain. They do make ripping chain that comes sharpened at 10 degrees for cutting with the grain of a log.

thank you very much for your reply.i use 050x 3/8I know my mistake know. I grind using 10 degrees I must be misunderstood. No wonder the chain is not chewing on wood like used to be because my foolish act.I appreciate your help and thank you fellows. I will go know and try to repair the damage by sharpening on 30 degrees.

It depends highly on what species and cutting conditions you're running in. The Bailey's chain is the standard Granberg-style ripping chain which set the standard back in the '70's.

I've heard of guys ripping softwoods with a square-ground chisel chain with a 22 degree top plate angle. Most of the hardwood milling I've been around was done with the ripping chain that has the clearing cutters sharpened at 10 x 10 degrees and the scoring cutters sharpened at 0 x 0.

I think your confusing top plate or cutter filing angle and tilt angle.Most chains are 25 or 30 degree filing angle, the 10 degree tilt comes in on full chisel, it cleans the point out better and makes for a super sharp tip. On semi chisel you dont need to do this you just file a 25 or 30 degree angle at 90 degree to the chain (flat) since the semi chisel has a rounded cutter you dont need the tilt to get the super sharp points you do on full chisel.

I used a chainsaw mill for 20 years. Early on I followed Will Maloff's advice and had all my 30 degree ripping chain ground to 0 degree angle. That gave me a much better surface on the wood AND it cut faster.

I also copied Will's method of lowering the file in the gullet so the tooth had a 45 degree hook angle instead of the usual 75 to 80 degree angle. That also made a big difference.

Just before I sold the Alaskan mill, I read that a 10 degree top angle was the new standard for ripping chain. I didn't get around to trying it. What I liked about the 0 degree angle was that you didn't have to file every second tooth and then reset your guide or grinder. You could file every tooth straight across.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about the top angle, not the tilt angle. Will didn't tilt the file either.

So, to answer the original question, a 10 degree angle is probably better than a 30 degree angle for ripping (not for cross cutting). If you're re-filing standard cross-cut chain, you're best using a chain grinder rather than hand filing. Less work and you'll be sure your cutters are the same length.

For using a bench chain grinder, what was recommended from the manufacture of the grinder, the motor should be tilted at 60 Degrees for the Gullet Angle, and 25 to 35 Degrees as someone else already stated, for the Top Angle. I have no idea which is better for ripping chain, as I have never used one before. Bruce

I have read in the forum that 10 degree sharpening is perfect for chainsaw milling.

This (above) is the pertinent part of the question.

The manufacturers sell ripping chain, and most of them have a special grind angle for it, usually something between 0' and 10'. For conventional crosscutting use the angle that is specified by the chain manufacturer until you have enough experience to decide for yourself what angle works best. For ripping, start at 10', then fine tune it as you gain experience.